page_title: Olympic flame
section_title: Olympic flame lighting
hierarchical_section_title: Olympic flame / Main ceremonies / Olympic flame lighting
caption_attribution_description: Greek actress Ino Menegaki acts as high priestess at the Temple of Hera, Olympia during the rehersals of the ceremony of the lighting of the Olympic flame for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. The Olympic flame is ignited with the rays of the sun focused by a parabolic mirror. It commemorates the stealing of fire from the gods by Promethius in Greek mythology
context_page_description: The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay, which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The flame then continues to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it is extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony.
context_section_description: The Olympic fire is ignited several months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece.
  Eleven women, representing the Vestal Virgins, perform a celebration at the Temple of Hera in which the first torch of the Olympic Torch Relay is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror.
  At the beginning of the ceremony, the Olympic anthem was sung first followed by the national anthem of the country hosting the Olympics and the national anthem of Greece along with the hoisting of the flags.
caption: Igniting the Olympic flame in a dress rehearsal in Greece, using the Sun's energy
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